Some weeks are better than others and last week was definitely one of our best. Having only sent out our first announcement for the upcoming YPlus Pageant, we were hyped by the news of our former Miss Y+ Gloria Nawanyaga in the finals for Miss Uganda, a very reputed beauty pageant in the land. While we were at it, we also received a huge visit from our colleagues at Right Here Right Now, and we buckled up to set out for a thrilling experience. If you have time to read 300 words, let us take you down the memories of our past 7 days.
Those of you who have known Gloria Nawanyaga must know she is a powerful lady who will not just give up or take no for an answer. Who can forget her run in for Miss Y+ back in 2016? On top of that, we won the prestigious Golden Egg award at the AIDS Conference in the Netherlands, so we were pretty certain that she had a very serious shot at Miss Uganda. The only challenge was the competition, as she was up against 20 other young girls with equally sparkling ideas.
With a few days to go to the conclusion of voting for the MTN Miss Pulse, we quickly realized the need for support if she was to stand any chance and that is where our colleagues from Uganda Network of Law, Ethics and HIV/AIDS (UGANET) came in. They played a key role in bringing different young people and stakeholders like Media under one roof for an e-chat that publicized Gloria as the brave young girl going against the norm of conformity, believing she is stronger than her status and jumping deep into this race. The result? Gloria was crowned Miss Rising Woman 2019/20! We were very elated at this outcome, and much as it wasn’t the primary target, it is a win just as good since it provides an equally strong platform to carry on advocacy for young people, especially those with HIV.
That done, we welcomed the team from Right Here Right Now to our home in Ntinda, Kampala. Right Here Right Now is a coalition of 14 Member organisations, with emphasis on shifting power to young people to control their SRHR needs and outcomes, starting today (Scratch that, starting right now). The team passed by our office to learn more on how we execute our programs and how we mobilise young people for our activities and interventions like the Y+ pageant.
They didn’t stop there, proceeding to shed some light on the things we could do better as an organization. Ofcourse sharing with fellow young people is always lit, as you can see in some of these shots. This was such a visit of magnitude, and for all lessons shared, we will keep very close to our hearts.
Simple highlights that made our week worth it. Now for the new week, we already have the motivation. Keep following us over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the updates from our works. You are the kind of people we love to love.
